These instruments, taken together, form the legal basis for the European Union.
A. ECSC: European Coal and Steel Community (Treaty of Paris, 1951). Concluded by the six founding states, this treaty expired on 23 July 2002. The surviving terms of this treaty were subsumed by the treaty establishing the European Economic Community.
B. EEC: European Economic Community (1957); EURATOM: European Atomic Energy Community (1957). The EEC and EURATOM constitute the Rome Treaties.
C.TEU: Treaty on European Union (Maastricht, 1993): Created the "Three Pillars" consisting of: 1) the reintegrated founding treaties (see I.A. above) and the blueprint for the European Monetary Union (EMU); 2) the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) which mandated joint action in foreign and security affairs; and, 3) the Justice and Home Affairs policy (asylum, immigration, judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, drug trafficking and fraud). This instrument is also known as the "Maastricht Treaty".
D. Treaty of Amsterdam (1999): further streamlined the EU institutions, granted additional legislating authority to the European Parliament; strengthened CFSP; increased the number of areas in which decisions could by voted on by qualified majority instead of requiring unanimity.
E. Treaty of Nice (2003): its main purpose was to prepare EU institutions for enlargement; extended the number of issues that could be decided by qualified majority voting; redistributed seats within the European Parliament; reconfigured the College of Commissioners and strengthened the role of the European Commission.
F. Treaty of Lisbon (2009): Merges the terms of the EEC treaty now to be known as the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The Treaty of Lisbon also established an EU Presidency; incorporated a Charter of Fundamental Rights and created a diplomatic service under the High Representative for the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
European Union law is primarily shaped by EURATOM, TEU, and TFEU.
